THE HISTORY OF LAS LAGUNAS BOUTIQUE HOTEL BY ITS OWNER

"You could barely spot a house every once in a while and you were greeted with great joy and offered food and beverages from the region ..."

I have always been in love with Peten, ever since I came for the first time back in 1950 when I was only 23 years old, it was love at first sight. By then, Peten was an extensive jungle of hundreds of square kilometers, from the beginning of Sarstun River in the southeast border with Belize, to the northeast border with Mexico. The forest was so thick, full of fine wood trees that the sun barely penetrated the grounds. The trees were so big, full of exotic birds and a great variety of local animals, surrounded by great rivers, most of them navigable and in which you could observe all sorts of fish, crocodiles and snakes, a true paradise. The roads, if you could call them that, were only paths where some animals went through and most of the trips were done through the rivers with canoes that measured up to 30 meters and that could easily carry 300 quintals of products, mainly corn.

You could barely spot a house every once in a while and you were greeted with great joy and offered food and beverages from the region. They had this alcoholic beverage that consisted of fermented fruits and it was called “chumpiate”, which you had to drink carefully because it easily made you very happy. It was a virgin, unexploited jungle. There was another jungle where many trees had been cut and it was a lot smaller, there were also the savannas, wide prairies with low grass and jungle islands (suchés) that served as refugees for the deer, wild boars, tapirs, jaguars, pumas and many other smaller animals like agouty pacas, cotuzas, tayras and otters, among others. You could spot and observe before sunrise an immense variety of birds that filled the jungle with their wonderful sounds. It was incredibly beautiful to watch the musters of endemic ocelated turkeys with their colorful feathers reflecting the sun rays. During the chewing gum boom, it was very nice to talk to the chicleros who extracted the gum from the sapodilla trees. They told wonderful stories of the region and stories about small elves that appeared to them in the jungle. The sad part is that most of this is disappearing without anyone doing anything to stop it.

"The idea was to create something like the parks in Africa where animals are in their natural habitat"

As years have gone by, roads where built, all types of vehicles and machinery came in and even the Fydep was created by the government to promote colonization, providing great advantages for the acquisition of lands and promoting the agricultural and livestock development without any proper legislation to defend and protect the local flora and fauna and causing the extinction of many species. This is so sad especially when you can see that in other countries like Canada, USA, Kenya and most of the European countries they have such a strict legislation to protect all this.

In our country there is no proper legislation and if there is, no one respects it and we can see that in clear examples like the forest fires that have become more common each year and the deforestation of most of the virgin forest. And I want to say it clear that I am not opposing to progress and development, I am in favor of that but I think this development should be organized, controlled and sustainable and everyone should be aware of their social responsibility.

Some years ago, with the curiosity that has always characterized me, I came upon this land and all the memories of what made me fall in love with Peten since the first time I saw it came immediately back to me. I was captivated by the lush jungle, beautiful lagoons, savanna and ancient oak forests that were so unique and dazzling and I wanted to own it. Nevertheless, for legal reasons, it was impossible for me to buy it and four years had to go by until I had the opportunity to acquire it. My intention, of course, was not to own it for agricultural or livestock use since its beauty was so overwhelming my main desire was to protect it and share it with all the nature lovers that would appreciate its incredible value and beauty, just like me. That is how the idea of creating the hotel started. I have travelled all over the world and I wanted people from all over to be able to appreciate this marvelous place and at the same time receive first class service and all the comfort but maintaining and preserving the natural beauties and the feeling of being in the middle of the jungle. Pretending, among other things, to protect the local flora and fauna, I created the nature reserve with different local species rescued by organizations like Arcas and Conap with the intention of contributing to their preservation and offering a safe place for them to live.

The idea was to create something like the parks in Africa where animals are in their natural habitat, with structures that become a part of the surroundings causing the least impact and with this show people from all over the world our beautiful and diverse Guatemala and especially Peten. This is how Las Lagunas Boutique Hotel emerged, which I am certain will leave great memories and experiences in all those who visit us.

Edgar Castillo Sinibaldi.